


Green and Red Arrows

by Bandgeek18



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Pre-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7585024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandgeek18/pseuds/Bandgeek18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver was supposed to catch robbers. Except this one. Maybe this one was different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Green and Red Arrows

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm not very familiar with Roy's backstory and how he met Oliver. But this is a non-canon musing of mine on how the two could've met.

Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any of DC's characters 

Oliver and Roy

The blue lights of police cars greeted Green Arrow as he arrived in front of a grocery store. He stepped out of the shadow of the alley and approached the lead detective on the case. "Detective," he said in greeting. His relationship with the cops in Star City was strained at best. Some days they were happy enough to let him catch dangerous murderers and rapists; others they were gunning to slap handcuffs on him instead. He could tell by the look on the detective's face that this was one of the latter times. "Nice night tonight. You can almost see the stars through the light pollution."

The detective simply scowled at him. "Arrow. Do you want to explain this before I have you arrested?"

"I'd prefer you don't arrest me at all, regardless of an explanation. But I don't know what kind of explanation you think I can give."

"Oh really? You don't have an explanation for this?!" He thrust his hand out, revealing a red arrow that peaked Oliver's interest; which before had been borderline uninterested. 

"Where did you get that?" 

"This store. When it was robbed last week. It's identical to the ones that are in there now."

"So an archer has robbed this store twice?"

"Five times by our count."

"Five?!" How was he just now hearing about this.

"Yes. Now, as the only known archer in the city who can shoot with this kind of accuracy-"

"Let me stop you right there. 1- This arrow is clearly red. All of mine are green. Hence the name, Green Arrow. 2- I assure you Detective, I have no need to rob a grocery store. Far from it."

"So you're saying there's another sharp-shooting archer in Star?"

"It looks like it, yes. But don't worry, I'll catch him for you. Or her." 

"Hm." Green Arrow knew the Detective still wanted to place the blame of the crime on him, but the appeal of not having to try and arrest someone who'd managed to slip through their fingers five times already was appealing. "Make sure that you do."

Green Arrow nodded and slipped past the detective towards the crime scene. He entered the store, brushing past the officers who were standing around. He saw a security guard sitting on the ground; pinned to the wall by his shirt. Two arrows were holding his shirt up by the neck, and two on the shoulders. The arrows were red, identical to the one the detective had shown him. The guard's head was down on his chest and he wasn't moving. "He's not dead. There's no killing blow."

One of the officers nodded. "Last time this happened he said the thief pinned him to the wall and hit him over the head with a rock." 

As he walked closer, Green Arrow could see small traces of blood on the man's hairline. He reached out and jerked one of the arrows free of the wall. "Exceptional aim. All cloth, no skin. Didn't go for a kill shot, even if it had been easy."

"Hey you can't take that!"

Green Arrow rolled his eyes and stowed the arrow in his quiver. Clearly he was overstaying his welcome at the crime scene. He wandered away and paramedics came over to assist the unconscious security guard. He took a look around for a minute before grabbing a police officer by the neck of his shirt. Judging by the way his eyes widened in fear he was a rookie. "What was taken?"

"Wha-"

"Someone has been going to a lot of trouble to rob this place. What was taken?"

"Oh right! Um....bread. Peanut butter. Bottles of water. Candy. Chips."

"Is that the same thing that was taken every time?"

"Yes."

He nodded and released the rookie officer. "When have the last robberies occurred?"

"Sunday. Always Sunday in the middle of the night."

"A consistent pattern for five weeks? Remind me again why you haven't caught him?"

"Well I mean....dispatch to this place is slow sometimes and there's other crimes that require-" he stopped as Green Arrow walked away. "Ok then."

The vigilante wandered towards the back of the store and found what he was looking for. A window. It was high up, probably only accessible by climbing the shelf next to it. He climbed up it himself and looked outside. He dropped suddenly as the shelf gave out from his weight. "Someone small then," he muttered as he got to his feet. He turned around and saw the detective and another officer glaring at him. "Don't worry I'm leaving." 

He elbowed his way past them and exited the store; heading towards the back. He found what he hoped was the window from the inside and made an interesting discovery. The window lead to a roof that he suspected belonged to the storage room of the store. He reached into his quiver and pulled out a grappling hook arrow. He shot it up at the roof and pulled himself up onto it. He followed the roof until it ended at a wall. He frowned at the wall. Someone probably needed a grappling hook themselves to get over it. 

"Looks like I'll be here next Sunday."

\--

Later that night, Oliver Queen sat in his apartment above the city. He stretched out on his couch and carefully studied the red arrow. It was of ok quality. Probably from a sports equipment or hunting store. He looked closer and discovered that it had been painted red. "If this person is stealing food, they're probably stealing arrows too." He snorted. "It's a lot of work to go through just to get a week's worth of food." 

He set the arrow aside and tilted his head back. He had no idea who could be behind this. However, there was another archer out there giving him a bad name, so he would catch them. And bring them to justice. That was what his job required of him, right?

\--

The following Sunday, Green Arrow hid himself in the shadows near the wall. He hoped they wouldn't change up their M.O. tonight of all nights. The Star City police might have been half-hearted in their attempts to catch the thieving archer, or maybe they were just incompetent, but he wanted to catch his guy. Or girl. He didn't need rogue archers wandering around the city giving honest rogue archers like him a bad name. Being a vigilante was hard enough without someone making you look worse in the eyes of the cops. Not that their opinions mattered to him anyways, but their info was always useful. 

After a few hours he watched as someone jumped down from the wall. Before Arrow could move the person ran to the window and hauled themselves inside. He followed as quickly as he could. The window was a tight squeeze for him, but he managed to make it. He dropped into the floor and nocked an arrow to his bow and moved through the store. He turned a corner and froze at what he saw.

A kid, no older than 12 or 13, in a red hoodie, with the hood pulled over his head to obscure his face. He held up a longbow that was aiming a red arrow at the security guard. The kid let the arrow fly, then quickly reloaded from the backpack on his back. It wasn't very big and Green Arrow could see it was pulling double-duty as a quiver. The kid shot his arrow, but his time it didn't hit its mark. He jumped as a green arrow hit his from the side and pinned it into a wooden display. He spun and saw Green Arrow aiming an arrow right at him. 

"Stop," Green Arrow told him. "Drop the bow and backpack kid." Instead, the kid pulled another arrow from his bag and shot it at the vigilante. Green Arrow dropped his own arrow to knock it away with his bow. He saw the kid take off running for the window. "Hey kid! Stop!" By the time he reached the window the kid had already gotten through. He ran and jumped, pulling himself up and through. His quiver snagged on the frame slightly, much to his annoyance. He watched as the kid climbed the crates Green Arrow had been hiding behind earlier. He stood on the top one and jumped onto the roof of the next building. 

Green Arrow finally got himself free and followed. He cursed how fast this kid was as he scrambled up the crates. He arrived on the next biking in time to see the kid disappear down over the other side. He followed and watched as the young thief swiftly climbed down the side of a fire escape and dropped into an alley. Green Arrow followed as quickly as he could, sprinting after the hooded kid. He chased him down several streets and alleys, always keeping a block away at all times. Soon the kid lead him to a part of the city where the buildings became more condemned and run down. 

Eventually the kid climbed another fire escape and climbed in through a window. Green Arrow followed as stealthily as he was capable of. He wasn't Batman, but he'd hardly call himself the Flash either. As soon he was on the landing he nocked an arrow to his bow, a non-deadly knockout-gas arrow of course. He looked in through the window the kid had disappeared through. 

He discovered a room that was lit by camping lanterns. Two or three that cast an odd glow around the small space. There was an old mattress on the ground in the middle of the room where the kid sat. He had his bow propped up against it and his back pack was sitting on the floor next to him. His hood was off, but his head was down, preventing Arrow from seeing his face. He watched as the kid wrapped his arms around his stomach like he was in pain. He then lowered himself down onto his mattress and curled up into a ball. 

Green Arrow slowly let the tension in his bow loose and replaced the arrow. He sighed sadly and quietly climbed back down the fire escape. He was a vigilante. His job was to catch criminals. There was no criminal here. Not really.

\--

The following night, the young thief opened his window; bow in hand, and backpack on his back. He stepped out on to the fire escape to discover a bag. He frowned and approached it cautiously. He poked it experimentally with his longbow. It didn't blow up. He crouched down and studied the bag in the pale light of a nearby street lamp. It was a red backpack and inside he found two leaves of bread, peanut butter, bottles of water, several large packages of candy, a box of cereal, and a red blanket. One of his arrows was also sticking out of the bag in the same fashion his others were.

He frowned, wondering who could've left this here. He got his answer when he looked at the handle on top and saw that something was tied to it. He pulled at the string and discovered a green arrow was tied to the handle. Him. That vigilante who'd tried to chase him the night before. Apparently he's been more successful than the boy had thought. He shrugged and grabbed the bag before slipping back into his home. He shut the window and sat down to eat. 

Down below the fire escape, Green Arrow watched the fire escape. He smiled when he saw the boy grab the backpack of food and go back into his room. He nodded and turned to get back to work. He'd forged the kid would try again since he'd been prevented from getting his food the night before. As he walked away Arrow briefly contemplated the fact that he was leaving the kid in a bad part of the city in an abandoned building.

He knew deep down that he should probably call Social Services to come pick the kid up. But he didn't really want to. He wanted to talk to the kid and find out how and where he'd learned to shoot like that. But if he alerted social services then two things would happen. One: the kid would disappear into Star City's foster system and Green Arrow knew he might never find him;and two: even if he did find the kid was probably smart enough to know Green Arrow was the one who alerted the authorities and probably wouldn't trust him enough to talk. 

Not that Arrow thought that kid trusted anyone. Living on the street by himself and all. Which was another reason Green Arrow wanted to talk to him. He wanted to know why the kid was living alone on the streets. After he did that he'd alert the proper authorities. After all, what if the kid had runaway from an abusive or neglectful home? If social services grabbed him then he's end up back there again. It was better for Arrow to just leave him there for now. He'd check in on him after his patrol before he went home. And tomorrow night. Just to make sure. 

\--

The next three weeks Green Arrow checked on the kid every night. He stopped by at the beginning of the night when he started patrol, and before he went home at night. The kid was usually asleep when Arrow visited, curled up under the blanket. Sometimes he'd be shooting arrows across the room, aiming for boxes that he'd painted lopsided, red circles on. When he came across this, Green Arrow would sit for a few minutes and watch the kid practice. He had some skill. And he was fast. Overall it wasn't bad. 

The cops of course weren't happy with the lack of someone to arrest. Arrow wasn't certain they bought his story about the archer leaving town. But what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. He didn't think they'd care about the fact that the kid was only 12 and stealing because he was starving. Nor would they appreciate the novelty of a 12 year old that could shoot like him. So Arrow didn't really care what the police said. 

On the third week after the grocery store robberies had stopped, Green Arrow heard about a new attempted robbery at a shoe store. The next time the thief left his room he found a second backpack next to his usual one with food. This one was also tagged with a green arrow, but instead of food it had clothes and two pairs of shoes. The clothes were around his size. The pants were a little long but he rolled them up. A new hoodie was also included and it actually did a good job of obscuring his face. 

A couple of weeks after that, Green Arrow found himself in the thick of down gangsters. He fired off arrow after arrow; taking them down with knock-out gas and boxing glove arrows. He didn't notice one of them coming up behind him with a gun. Suddenly the gangster screamed and Green Arrow spin around. He saw the man had a red arrow in his hand and his gun was laying on the ground. He saw a movement from the corner of his eye and discovered another red arrow had impaled itself in the foot of another gangster. He made quick work of the others and heard footsteps behind him.

He spun round and pulled back the string on his bow. He saw who it was and quickly lowered the arrow. "Thanks for the help earlier." The kid didn't say anything. He simply reached into his backpack and pulled out a bundle of arrows. He threw them to Green Arrow, who discovered it was his own arrows. "Thanks for returning them."

"Why are you giving me food?" the kid asked suspiciously. 

"So you don't have to steal it."

"Why didn't you turn me in?"

"Do you want me to have you arrested?"

"No!"

"Well then I guess we have an agreement." The kid snorted and turned away. "Is there anything specific you like? A certain kind of cereal or candy?" The kid stopped and seemed to be contemplating something. 

"Cheerios. I like Cheerios."

"Cheerios." Green Arrow nodded, making a mental note of it. He watched as the kid left and went to alert the police to where they could find the gangsters. 

The following week he was once again up to his neck in bad guys. And once again he found red arrows hitting people in their feet and hands. As soon as everyone was taken care of he waited to see if his young friend would make an appearance. Sure enough, the kid stepped out of the shadows. 

"Can I ask why you're helping me?"

The kid's body language seemed to suggest he was glaring. "Do you not want me to?"

"Not at all. I like knowing someone is watching get back. It's a little dangerous though."

"So is living on the streets."

"True." This was his chance. "Why are you living on the streets?" The kid froze and Green Arrow could tell he was definitely glaring. 

"None of your damn business!" He abruptly ran off and Green Arrow ran after him.

"Wait! Kid-"

"Leave me alone!"

Green Arrow eventually stopped and watched as the child thief ran off into the night. He frowned worriedly. If he scared the kid off too much, he'd move to another building and the vigilante wouldn't be able to find him again. So the next time he made his weekly food run he was relieved to see that the kid hadn't changed location. He still waited to make sure the food was still taken. He was relieved and left to do his job. His actual job, not that superficial business one. At least the kid was still eating. That's what he was really concerned about. 

A couple weeks later the kid with the red arrows showed up at another fight. Afterwards Green Arrow waited around to see if the kid would hang around again. All of a sudden a green arrow shot out of the darkness and landed near his feet. Another one landed near the first one, and then a third. He waited for a minute longer, but the kid didn't appear. He sighed. Well he'd make sure the cops got ahold of these guys, then make sure the kid got back to his room safely. 

This continued on for several weeks with Green Arrow never seeing the kid at his fights, but always seeing his arrows. One morning he picked up the newspaper and spit his coffee out all over himself at the headline. 'New Vigilante in Star' it read with a picture of a guy pinned to a wall with red arrows. This trend continue with every newspaper in the city covering the emergence of this new vigilante. He couldn't get away from it. It even followed him out on patrol. 

"What do you know about this other vigilante?" a cop asked Green Arrow as he handed over a mugger.

"I don't know anything," he lied. "Just because it's another archer doesn't mean we're on speaking terms."

The cop huffed. "At least you freaks are color coding yourselves."

Green Arrow rolled his eyes and walked away. And this was why he didn't like the police. Why did he have to put up with this? No one would ever dare talk to Batman like that. Except his villains but they were all nut jobs. Then again, he supposed people thinking Batman didn't have a soul was a drawback to not being disrespected. He sighed. Sometimes you just couldn't have everything. 

The following night he was looking for crime to fight when he heard someone yell. He followed the sound to its source and saw the kid. He was shooting arrows at a group of men. Two of them were on the ground moaning in pain. A third was dodging the arrows and the fourth was raising a gun. Without even thinking Green Arrow shot the gun out of his hand and knocked him out with a boxing glove arrow. The kid spun around and saw him. "You."

"Me. What're you doing?"

"Stopping these scumbags from attacking a teenage girl."

"Being a vigilante is dangerous."

The kid snorted. "You're one to talk."

"That's different. I'm trained and I'm an adult. I have years of experience."

"So?"

"So experience keeps you alive. You can die out here you know."

"And? If I die who would miss me?"

Green Arrow blinked. "Me!"

"Yeah right!"

"I really would! I wouldn't have anyone to give extra food to. And no one would be watching my back in a fight, which I have to admit is kind of reassuring. If you die, I'd notice. And I'd be upset."

The kid sighed very audibly. "I have to go." 

He ran away from Green Arrow and scaled the fence on the other end. As soon as he he was up and over he dropped to the ground and sprinted off. Arrow shook his head and turned to go back to his own vigilante work. Every few hours though he'd go looking for the kid just to make sure he didn't get himself killed. He started trying to keep track of where the kid was over the next week; which became easier once he realized the kid usually stuck to the same neighborhood. He'd take time out of his nightly patrol to check around every few hours. He'd provide support when it was needed and alert the cops to the criminals the kid rounded up. He was sloppy and clearly unfamiliar with combat, but he wasn't terrible; which made Green Arrow like him more. 

And he felt that the felling might have been mutual, since the kid still showed up at Arrow's fights. He still stuck to the shadows and shot arrows from an unseen vantage point, but the older archer could tell he's been slowly working his way more into the fights. He pulled back his hood once the fight was over and smiled at the kid as he approached. "Nice shooting today." The kid didn't say anything. "You must get tired after shooting a long bow all night."

The kid shrugged. "I've been using it for years now. Doesn't bother me."

"Very cool. Are you self taught? I am. Sort of. Well...it's complicated."

The kid stiffened. "I should go." 

He started to walk away, but Green Arrow wasn't done. "What's your name?"

The kid turned around and it was obvious he was glaring, he did that a lot. "I don't know. What's yours?!"

Green Arrow made a split second decision and set his bow on the ground. He reached up and carefully pulled off his green mask. He looked at the boy. "My name is Oliver Queen."

The kid stared in shock. Ok. He hadn't been expecting that. He waited a beat, then slowly pulled down his own hood; revealing his red hair and young features. "I'm Roy Harper." He started at Oliver for a minute before turning away, pulling his hood back over his face.

"Nice to meet you Roy Harper!"

Roy stopped for a moment. "Nice to meet you too....Oliver Queen."

Oliver smiled as he put his mask back on and pulled his hood up. He was confident he'd made the right decision.

\--

"You did what?!" Clearly his fellow Leaguers didn't agree with his decision. Batman was giving him the infamous bat glare. Superman was looking at him like he'd lost his mind, which seemed to be a popular idea among the others. 

"Arrow!" Batman growled. "Do you realize how stupid it was to reveal your identity to a 12 year old?!"

Green Arrow snorted. "You're hardly one to talk. Didn't an 8 year old figure out yours after living with you for a week?" 

"Let's all calm down," Superman, grabbing Batman by the arm and pulling him back down into his seat. There was a reason he sat next to the Gotham vigilante. One of them being he was the only person who could do something like that without worrying about losing a hand. "Green Arrow, this is a serious matter." 

"You told a random kid on the street your secret identity," Wonder Woman said. "It's stupid and dangerous."

"He's not some random kid! I've known him for two months now!" Arrow protested.

"Oh yeah?" Flash challenged. "Do you know his name?"

"Roy Harper."

"How about where he's from?" Batman asked. "His background? His family? Why he's living on the streets?"

"I don't need to know those things!"

Superman quickly put his arm on Batman's chest and pushed him back into his seat. "Now you're just being stupid," Hal said. "You need to really know this kid."

"I do know him! I know he's good with a bow!"

"Having the same hobby as him doesn't mean he's the same as you," Batman pointed out. 

"You two are proof enough of that," Flash muttered, earning him a glare from both vigilantes. 

"You need to learn more about him," Hawkwoman said.

"Do you think I'm not trying?!" Green Arrow demanded. "He doesn't trust me! Every time I ask he runs off! I needed to show him that I trust him so that he can learn to trust me!" He glared at his team mates. "What I do know is that he only stole what he absolutely needed to survive. That he could've killed the security guards or criminals he takes down, but he hasn't. He never goes for a kill shot. I know that he repayed my kindness by helping me and that he stopped stealing when I gave him what he needed. He's not bad." 

"Regardless, you should've handed him over to the authorities," Wonder Woman said. "And you should've never allowed him to follow your line of work."

Superman nodded. "Children don't belong in our world Arrow. It's too dangerous."  
There was nodding and vocal agreements from everyone else- everyone but Batman, Arrow noted. 

"I'm watching his back."

"It's still unacceptable. He-"

"What do you plan to do with him?" Batman interrupted. 

"Do with him?"

"I assume you won't continue to allow a child to live alone in an abandoned building forever. What do you plan to do about it?"

"I don't know yet. As soon as I find out why he's living there in the first place I'll decide."

"Whatever you do, be sure it is the best choice for him."

"I will."

Flash and Superman looked between the two vigilantes who were staring each other down in the eye. Well...mask technically. But even with their masks it was if they were sharing an understanding no one else understood. The other leaguers found it unnerving. 

\--

Green Arrow spent the following three weeks trying to win over the trust of Roy. He kept up his weekly food deliveries, adding flash lights, trick arrows, and more blankets to his supplies. Roy seemed to like his trick arrows, since Oliver started seeing more of them at fights. 

One night Arrow came across Roy shooting arrows in a deserted street. "Can you even see your targets?"

"Yes." 

He stood and watched for a few minutes. "You should put the weight on your other foot."

"What?"

Green Arrow took a stance himself. "If you put your weight on your other foot like this it'll be easier to move after you shoot." Roy glared at him. "I mean your stance is fine, great in fact. But if you want to move quickly after shooting you need to adjust." Roy seemed to consider it for a minute before copying him. Arrow smiled and nodded. "I think you'll find it's easier to run and do that. And to run into this position." 

Roy shot a few more arrows in his new stance. "I can't run and shoot at the same time."

Green Arrow nodded, he'd noticed this. "Nothing practice can't fix. It's a lot like shooting a moving target."

"I'm not good at that either."

"Like I said, practice." Roy nodded and pulled his string back again. "Well I have to go." 

"I'll be near Running Lane tonight for a few hours." 

Green Arrow stopped and turned around. He saw that Roy was still shooting and hadn't even turned around. He smiled and left to do his patrol, making a mental note to check on Roy in a few hours. 

The next time he found Roy running up and down the street as he shot. "You're doing good." 

Roy stopped when he saw him and took his hood off. "Practice, right?"

Green Arrow nodded. "Practice." He waited a few more minutes before deciding it was safe to try again. "Who taught you to shoot?" 

Roy stopped mid-draw. Arrow could see the conflicted emotions on his face. "My adoptive dad." 

"You're adopted?"

"Was. He died."

"Oh. What about your brith father?"

"He's dead too. That's why I was adopted."

"Oh." No wonder the kid hadn't trusted him. He knew first hand it hurt to lose those you loved, but to lose them twice? And before you were even a teenager? He couldn't imagine a pain like that. "That's why you're living alone."

Roy nodded. "I don't need anyone." He stopped for second. "Besides you I guess." He went back to shooting and Green Arrow nodded.

"Right. Well....I'm going to go on patrol now."

"Where?"

"Where? Uh....probably near the docks tonight. I have a feeling a drug deal is going down." He started walking away then stopped. "You shouldn't follow me. Drug dealers can be unstable and unpredictable."

"Then shouldn't you have someone covering you?"

Arrow shook his head. He could do without Superman drop-kicking him to the moon. "I'll be fine. I'm a professional."

"If you say so."

\--

Later that night Oliver was pouring himself a drink as he thought over the night. He should've figured Roy wouldn't listen. He also knew he could've been seriously injured without the cover the red arrows had provided. He wandered around his apartment with his drink. He happened to pass one of the many empty bedrooms. He stopped and looked inside; leaning against the doorframe. He took a sip of his drink. 

He had the room. He had the financial means. But he was also Oliver Queen. He was a half-sober playboy who could barely run a company. He was also a vigilante. He knew being a hero tended to shorten your life span. If Roy got attached and something happened to him- He shook his head. The kid had already been orphaned twice. He couldn't do that to him. He should definitely call social services in the morning. Have them take Roy and put him in the system.

He sighed and pulled out his cell phone. Before he could fully think about what he was doing he hit call and put the phone to his ear.

"Queen."

"Wayne. Roy's an orphan." He waited for a response, and when he got none he kept talking. "Twice over." 

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do besides call social services?"

"If you really thought that you wouldn't have called me."

"Yeah but I'm me! I'm not a parent! I have a dangerous line of work! I don't want to give him stability then take it away again!" There was silence on the other line. 

"Sometimes the good you can do for a person will outweigh the bad." That was surprisingly positive considering who it was coming from.

"He's probably better off without me."

"We both know if you really thought that we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"You're not helping!"

"I never said I would help."

Oliver sighed. "You've been in my position Bruce. What would you do?"

"I've already done it. We both know what you'll do."

"We do?"

"Yes. Now stopping being a child and do it already." With that he hung up leaving Oliver alone with his thoughts. He sighed and took a deep sip of his drink. 

"Note to self: never ask Bruce for advice again."

\--

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to check on Roy the next night because he had something that needed Oliver Queen's attention. The night after that he was called away on a League mission and ended up being gone for two days because of it. Then he has to can up on work as Oliver Queen, keeping him off the streets for another three days. Almost a week had passed before he was able to go out at night again. He carried a backpack of food in one hand as he headed for Roy's room.

When he finally reached Roy he scaled the fire escape and looked in through the window. He knocked on yeh window, causing Roy to jump to his feet. He ran over and opened it. "Where the hell were you?!"

"Language much?" Oliver asked, holding out the bag. "I had a busy week. Wasn't able to come out at night to do the vigilante thing." 

Roy sat down and stared rummaging through the bag. "I thought you forgot about me."

"What? Never." He waited while the younger archer started eating. "So, I have a proposition for you." Roy stopped eating and gave him a suspicious look. Green Arrow could tell he was ready to bolt at any minute. He'd need to tread lightly. "How would you like to come live with me?" 

Roy swallowed. "Live with you?" 

Green Arrow nodded. He sat down next to Roy and pulled his hood back. "Yeah. I mean what're you going to do here once winter comes? There's no heat. No electricity. No running water. You need to bathe."

"I bathe. I trespass on swimming pools."

"Not what I mean. I have plenty of room and money. Plus I want to help you. It isn't safe or right for you to be out on your own like this."

Roy glared at him. "If I say yes, let's get one thing straight. I'm not your son and you're not my father. I don't need or want to be adopted again."

Arrow nodded. "Fair enough. Does ward sound good to you?" Roy took a minute to consider. 

"Yeah. That'd be ok."

"So, you gonna come live with me?"

Roy nodded. "Yeah. I guess so. Do I really have a choice?"

"Not really." He smiled and put his hand on Roy's shoulder. The bot tensed for a minute, then relaxed. "I'm looking forward to it though."

Roy smiled a little. "Me too."


End file.
